The last week in January started with a long run with a couple of tempo portions resulting in 17.5 miles being covered in around 2 hours 25 mins. The tempo pieces especially the second one coming after 2 hours of running was really tough but I got it done in the end. The rest of the week was a bit of a step back with the Trim race coming up on the Sunday but it still came in as 45 miles.
January was a very good month training wise running approx 210 miles for the month and running 28 days out of 31. This brought me up to the Trim 10 mile race last Sunday 1st Feb. I wasn't really sure how this was going to go but the weather was fine for the time of year when we got there, the plan was to start out conservatively as it was my first proper race since last September and see how it went from there.
Miles 1-4 (7:13, 7:18, 7:11, 7:18)
The aim was to go out around 7:30 pace for the first few miles. The first mile or so seemed to have the wind helping and a bit of downhill so the effort seemed a lot slowed that the pace suggests. I was conscious of not blowing up but at the same time the effort level was feeling about right so I just went with it. As we came into Dunderry we turned left and soon after passed the 4 mile marker.
Miles 5-8 (7:39, 7:18, 7:17, 7:13)
Between miles 4-5 I felt like I went to pieces and that my race was run, that feeling you get when you just want to stop. Runners around me were pulling away gradually and I felt like my race was run when the mile registered at 7:39. It turns out this mile was pretty much a gradual uphill and into the wind. When we turned out of it between 5&6 miles my legs seemed to come back to me and I got a bit of a second wind. At this point I was trying to take it mile by mile and tick off each mile as best could. Although the field was well spread out by now I was starting to pick people off and go away from them. I like to try and trick myself that there is a mile less to go than there actually is as you will always find someway of getting through the last mile. I was working very hard though now with 2 miles to go and happy to see the paces dropping gradually.
Miles 9-10 (7:03, 7:01)
There was one of the Balbriggan Roadrunners ahead of me by a few metres for most of the race and as my pace was improving his seemed to be as well. While I was pushing it as best I could he also seemed to be doing a good job of dragging me along with him (thanks Brian). I was surprised do be able to drop in a 7:03 mile after 8 miles of racing and now the main focus was on getting to the finish. At this stage it was just a case of putting one foot in front of another, not before a final hurdle. When we turned with around 400m to go to the finish we were greeted with a nice wind tunnel to run into. While trying to pick it up mentally it felt like everything was slowing and going in slow motion. Eventually got to the line glad to be finished.
Chip time was recorded as 1:13:00 which is a 4 min 17 sec PB from my last 10 mile race in 2012. More importantly I was happy with how I ran the race, especially the second half of the race finishing strong in the last couple of miles.
Now it is time to get back training.
